Damaged goods

The Blackhawks' prized off-season pickup, Marian Hossa, is injured -- and the Hawks knew it

July 23, 2009|By Chicago Tribune

The Blackhawks' roller-coaster off-season has taken another downhill turn.

Winger Marian Hossa, who signed a 12-year, $62.8 million free-agent contract July 1 -- the richest in team history -- is rehabilitating an injured rotator cuff, General Manager Stan Bowman said Wednesday.

Bowman called Hossa's injury "relatively minor" but did not rule out surgery that could sideline the five-time All-Star for the start of the 2009-10 season.

"At this point we're watching him and monitoring how he progresses," said Bowman, who took over the GM job after Dale Tallon was re-assigned July 14. "We're hoping that like a lot of other guys they rehab it and are good to go."

The left-handed, 30-year-old shooter is in Minnesota rehabbing his right shoulder with a specialist, and the team will wait to see if the shoulder responds favorably. If it doesn't, Bowman said Hossa would have surgery to repair it but that it "would be a last resort."

"The goal is to get this thing to settle down," Bowman said. "If we have to do [surgery] we'll do it. It's not a major injury, that's the good news. We want to make sure we do the right thing. We're still determining what that is."

Bowman said Hossa injured the shoulder during the Stanley Cup playoffs while a member of the Detroit Red Wings, but Wings GM Ken Holland told mlive.com Wednesday that Hossa played all last season with a slightly torn rotator cuff.

"He was hurt before he got to us," Holland said. "Our doctors looked at him and recommended he should have something done at some point but it's something he can play with."

Bowman said Hossa has undergone a battery of tests -- including an MRI. If surgery is required, he could miss "a few months."

"If he responds [to rehab], off you go," Bowman added. "You can't wait forever, but you also have to give rehab a chance."

Hossa, who has played in at least 72 games in nine of his 10 NHL seasons, appeared in 74 regular-season games with the Wings last season. He scored a team-high 40 goals and added 31 assists. He added six goals and nine assists in 23 postseason games, but was limited to three assists in seven games of the Stanley Cup finals.

Bowman, who was Tallon's assistant at the time of the signing, said the Hawks knew of the injury when the deal was done.

"We were aware of it from the very minute we started negotiations with his agent that he had a sore shoulder going back to the playoffs," Bowman said. "He played all the way up to Game 7 [of the finals] so it wasn't something he couldn't play with."